GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The city clerk’s office has verified that the women petitioning for municipal term limits have submitted enough signatures to put the proposal on the ballot. The question is on track to appear before Grand Rapids voters Nov. 4.

City Attorney Catherine Mish said she will draft ballot language for the City Commission to consider at its Tuesday, Aug. 12 meetings.

A memo written Thursday by City Clerk Darlene O’Neal states that Grand Rapids Citizens for Municipal Term Limits submitted about 10,250 signatures, and that more than enough of them are valid signatures of registered city voters. The campaign needed to collect 6,699 signatures – 5 percent of registered voters – to put the proposed city charter amendment on the ballot.

Spearheaded by residents Bonnie Burke and former City Commission candidate Rina Baker, Grand Rapids Citizens for Municipal Term Limits wants to amend the city charter so that city commissioners and the mayor may serve no more than two 4-year terms. If voters enact term limits, Mayor George Heartwell and city commissioners Walt Gutowski and Elias Lumpkins, Jr. would be prohibited from seeking re-election next year, and city commissioners Rosalynn Bliss and Dave Shaffer would be unable to run again when their terms expire in 2017.

The campaign for term limits so far has been funded primarily by Burke and Baker, who have contributed a combined $2,800 to the effort, according to a campaign finance report filed last month. The campaign reported total contributions of $3,323 and a cash balance of $1,521.

Heartwell, who is scheduled to match his predecessor, John Logie, as the longest-serving Grand Rapids mayor when his third 4-year term concludes in 2015 - and who would break the record if he were allowed to seek and win re-election - has raised more than $58,000 since last winning re-election and has more than $21,000 in the bank, according to his latest campaign finance statement. He reported raising $18,620 from a Feb. 12 fundraiser at One Trick Pony.